Welcome to Consumer Rescue
Your Fiasco Fixer
The Consumer Rescue advocacy team resolves problems between consumers and the businesses that they patronize. We do this via direct mediation with companies — always free of charge.
These articles are the highlighted tales of our efforts to defend, protect, and educate consumers. Michelle Couch-Friedman is a consumer advocate, reporter and ombudsman columnist. She is also the founder of Consumer Rescue.
Expensive car rental mistakes are easily avoidable with just a little research and preparation. Yet week after week, the Consumer Rescue case files show that many car rental customers do neither. By the time I hear from these blindsided travelers, that oversight has led to hefty fees and other unexpected repercussions.
Here are the most common mistakes car rental customers make and what you can do to avoid them in 2026.
Medicare beneficiary Thomas Devich did everything right. He read his Annual Notice of Change and used the Medicare Plan Finder to compare his drug coverage for the coming year. He even called the insurance companies directly to double-check the numbers.
But instead of getting a clear answer, he ran into something far more confusing: every source gave him a different price for the exact same prescriptions.
What’s going on here? Consumer Rescue’s registered Medicare counselor, Abe Wischnia, explains.
Could an ombudsman columnist who routinely writes about tourist scams become the target of one herself? The answer is, of course, “Yes.” No traveler is immune to the possibility of a brush with a bad actor — not even me.
How did a $428 Southwest Airlines ticket end up costing an American Airlines customer in distress $4,500? If you guessed a fake airline call center scam is behind this astounding upsell, you would be right.
Sometimes fall can seem like it’s open season on Medicare beneficiaries. Insurance companies are after your money by raising costs, reducing benefits, and dropping covered drugs. And, of course, there are crooks who use this period to target you with Medicare scams.
If you’re on Medicare and want or need to watch your budget, pay attention. Now is the time to protect yourself.
Here’s what Medicare beneficiaries need to know to prepare for 2026.
Ace Rent a Car at the Tampa airport blindsided Carla Lemker with a $1,400 repair bill after her last rental. Sure that she didn’t cause any damage to the vehicle, Lemker asked the company for proof. That’s when things got really weird.
Norwegian Cruise Line recently denied boarding to a bewildered passenger in Tokyo — she says, solely because of her nationality. But the next day, NCL reversed course and told the woman she was welcome to join the cruise.
Unfortunately, by then, Norwegian Spirit had sailed and was nearly 500 miles away in Kobe.
Mid-flight engine troubles on Swiss Air led to a couple’s struggle for a $1,500 premium economy upgrade refund. Can Consumer Rescue help?
Publishers Clearing House scams remain a menace to senior citizens, even after the company’s bankruptcy this year. I know because a friendly, self-proclaimed “man of God” called me last week, claiming to be a representative of PCH. He said he’d soon arrive at my house to deliver my sweepstakes award of “a whopping $5.5 million.”
Aurora Expeditions’ subsidiary Vantage Explorations just turned two years old. To celebrate this milestone, the cruise line has big news and a $2,500 booking bonus for cruisers.
Here’s what’s next for Vantage Explorations and Aurora Expeditions.
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